Review: Kapalua Villas, Maui

For our wonderful week in Maui, we lived in a two-bedroom villa at Kapalua Villas, on the north-west shore. It was easily one of the most idyllic places I’ve ever stayed, and very spacious. We needed the space. With six full-grown adults and over 15 pieces of luggage (including six sets of golf clubs), we needed all the space we could get!

Panoramic view from our villa

There were two good-sized bedrooms and three bathrooms, plus a sofa bed. The sofa bed ended up being a bit of a debacle, as the one we received was definitely a single (no good for two adults!) and then it was replaced by some futon mattresses for the floor. Not ideal.

Our 2-bed villa in Kapalua, Maui

The interiors were tired – and probably could do with a refresh – but the kitchen was well appointed with coffee maker, a blender (though not a great one), rice cooker and kettle. There were also some great barbecues by the pool, which led to some delicious meals. We were able to save a lot of money by cooking the majority of our food, although we made a couple of exceptions for Star Noodle (review coming soon!) and Monkeypod – both worthy stops! It’s such a luxury to be able to cook great food on holiday, especially when you’re travelling with your own chefs (in the form of Mum and Dad, of course). It really helps with the ‘home away from home’ feel – although more on that when we get to Aulani (a Disney resort that truly is our home from home). The view from our dining table was spectacular, and came with the added bonus of whales! Not too often you can whale-watch from your bowl of granola, but there you go.

View from our kitchen table

The beach that was moments from our doorstep

The location of Kapalua is brilliant for beach-bums – we had an awesome beach right at our doorstep, which was good for boogie-boarding, surfing and kite-surfing. Right next door was the DT Fleming Beach, which is one of the top beaches in Maui. The waves sometimes got pretty big, because it is very windy on this side of Maui! It was also a bit too windy most days for lying around and reading on the beach… my copy of The Girl with All the Gifts is covered in sand (oops). But there were plenty of other great places to read, so I was okay 🙂

On the windiest days, it was perfect for kite surfers!

I would say that a downside of Kapalua is that the location is about as far as you can get from the other ‘top’ sights in Maui – like the Hana highway and the Haleakala volcano. We didn’t get to the volcano because it was a 2 hr drive just to even think about getting there (and you have to do that drive wherever you want to go, which becomes very tedious… we probably did it about 12 times on the trip). The traffic on the island can also get pretty bad. But it’s not too far from Lahaina, where we went surfing (more on that later too!).

Kapalua is also a golfer’s dream. There are two courses on site, and lots of great golf nearby. We spotted someone in a villa near us with their own putting green in their backyard! I think L took a photo just so he could get inspiration for our dream home! There were a ton of facilities that we didn’t even check out – a gym, spa, tennis courts, hiking trails… the list goes on and on.

Putting green for him, infinity pool for me… I’d call this a dream home 🙂

In short… we had an absolutely amazing week. It would be a great family location – with the beaches, pools, self-catering and space, kids would have a blast. We were all sad to leave and desperate to return.